Zone Of The Enders: The War of 100 Years
by Guara-guara-booyakha
Summary: 2 Years had past since the Aumann incident. While everything seemed to be back in order, a new chapter of the war between Earth and Mars had once again begun. This time, it's larger than ever!
1. Prologue

**_Prologue_**

A.D. 2176

Two years had pass since the destruction of the military fortress AUMANN that sent a bright flash to every corners of the universe. Bahram's fleet is no longer a threat without the directions of their psychotic commander, Colonel Nohman, and within a year of the incident, Bahram's influence is completely erased off the Martian map.

Although Mars had lost Phobos due to the great destructive power of an Orbital Frame, the Martians had begin rebuilding the battle-scarred planet back to its original state. There was finally peace for all Earth, Mars and Jupiter.

After aborting the ATLANTIS, Dingo Egret went back to join his mining crew on Callisto while Ken Marinaris opted to stay onboard, getting prepared to enlist in the United Nations Space Force U.N.S.F., where Leo Stenbuck is.

Although being objected, Jehuty, together with the replica version of Anubis was ordered to be delivered to UNSF's R&D section for research purposes. That order alone spelt trouble to peace...


	2. Zone01: DENIED ACT01 Elena Weinberg

**_ZONE01: DENIED_**

ACT01:- Elena Weinberg, Co-Captain

Elena Weinberg can't believe her eyes. Nor her ears. In her grasp is a written document of denial regarding the recognition of Mars as an independent nation; her promise to the 2nd runner of Jehuty as a token for his aid in destroying Bahram's military fortress AUMANN. She could have lost the members of the Storm company together with the remaining fleet of LEVs, or even Earth itself if he hadn't show up. For a brief moment back then she'd classified that runner as a top-class jerk, well at least until he'd help them out.

"Thank you, Captain Weinberg. That would be all."

_Well at least the jerk is probably a few thousand times much better than you are. He'd done his homework._

She inhaled as deep as she could, her brain cells clashing to decide whether or not to question her commander as she takes in more oxygen.

"This is not right. I thought I have your words when you said that you'll take care of the recognition process," she exhaled.

The pudgy-faced commander adjusted his position, the sight of his soft belly made Elena wondered if he'd actually passed the physical test. She knew that he'd never had any experiences in facing hundreds of the enemy's Orbital Frames- He'd probably got his ranks by cash. The bright rays of the sun shined through the large window behind him, casting shadows that hid his face in the shades and gave him a sinister feel.

"Well, you did have MY words, but I'd never said I that the rest of the UN members would give your theirs."

"You could at least try to say something, convince them somehow-"

"Jesus Christ, Weinberg! I ain't no big decision maker on the ring, you know that."

"Fine. Then how about those Orbital Frames that were ordered to be sent to our R&D two years ago? Aren't they supposed to be Martian property?"

"They WERE; Until they drifted ten thousand kilometres out of Mars' gravitational field."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well, in case you're not into interplanetary laws, dear; In Line 71, Act No. 569, Chapter 104 in 2120's Law of Planetary Aerospace states that any object floating ten thousand kilometres away from a planet's gravitational area will be considered as debris in space. And perhaps you already knew that anybody is allowed to collect debris, according to the 2087's Space Environmental Laws?"

_Whoa. Since when do you start to have such a brain to store that particular rule in such a precise order?_

"But that doesn't explain-"

"That's enough! Are trying to have me following YOUR orders, **CAPTAIN**?"

_Geez. Feeling so vulnerable that you have to take me on with your ranks. Loser._

Elena lowered her head, the documents in her hand crumpled inside her fist.

"Not at all, '**COMMANDER**'."

"Then get the hell out of my office! I have my jobs to do!"

That was probably the first time she felt like being born on Mars instead. So that she could blast this pig out of orbit.   
Biting her lower lips, she turned and make her way to the door.

_Yeah right, what other jobs do YOU have other than sleeping while listening to Mozart?_

She slammed the door shut behind her and tried to ease herself down a bit, before letting out a big but silent sigh of disappointment. That was also her first time of not keeping her promise in her history as a UNSF Captain.


	3. Zone01: DENIED ACT02 Dingo Egret

ACT02:- Dingo Egret 

He opened his eyes, the lights irritating him as he right himself up to sit. His back was stiff, probably a result for being on bed for hours.

_As well as being strapped to a seat for over 24 hours._

He sigh, almost laughingly. Well at least he's himself again. No OFs to provide life support, no more battles. No Nohman. As his eyes slowly adjust to the light, he find himself in what seems to be an infirmary. Cold sweat start to form all over his body. This is not right; This CAN'T be right! He know exactly where he is, but it just does not make any sense. He was in an infirmary alright, Deimos Station's infirmary. Somehow he can't remember how the hell he got there, and surely he doesn't want to stay there long enough to find out.

_Wherever this is, I'm outta here!_

He hurried off the bed, his feet felt the cold floor tiles. Just as he reach for the door knob, something pulled him back preventing him to go any further.

Puzzled, he turned and saw wires and cables he didn't notice when he's on the bed. And they all were attached to his back, from the back of his skull, and down his spine.

_What the-!?_

There was a faint click on the door knob as it was turned by whoever it was on the other side. A wave of blinding light flows into the room, and as he shields his eyes, he can make out an outline of someone approaching him, but he just can't identify the mysterious figure, who just stop in his tracks, speechless.

"Where on Earth am I? Who are you and what the hell did you do to me!?"

While Dingo yelled at the top of his voice, the figure appear to stay as still as it was. but Dingo can now hear him breathing. And sense a disturbing feeling that surrounds the figure. something in his mind tells him that the figure is someone whom he think he knows, but the other part of his mind tells him that it's not possible. Although confused, Dingo's expression switched to raging anger in a split second.

"Nohman..."

As he muttered the figure's name, he swear he could see the wicked smile on his face before there was a gunshot, and warm blood, HIS blood flows down his chest. As he fell, he began to hear someone, a girl, calling him by his name. And he think he smells coffee too...

"Dingo? **DINGO!"**

_ARGH, CRAPTASTIC!_

He'd spilt his cup of martian coffee in his sleep. In front of him, Angie was already showing signs of giggling. Rick, on the other hand, was laughing like there's no tomorrow.

"Your girlfriend in your dreams, Dingo?" Angie asked jokingly.

Ignoring her for a while, he quickly wipe off the excess drops of his favourite drink off himself. He was lucky somehow- He's still in his mining suit, which was made to be water proof.

"Yeah," Dingo replied with a faint smile.

"Well, you'd better get yourself another cup of that, you don't wanna have your LEV's drill on yourself the next time you wake up," said Rick between his laughter.

Dingo laughed as he got off his seat to get himself in the queue of miners for coffee.

"Don't worry, I'll have it on your butt, you still owe me twenty from last week's bet" he replied, smiling. It's been a long time since he'd been so light-hearted. And he felt good about it.


	4. Zone01: DENIED ACT03 Ken Marinaris

ACT03:- Ken Marinaris 

_Dear God, please help guide me through this critical ordeal. I need your blessing very much, for this is a matter of life and death. Please Lord, help me. Help me PLEASEEEEEEEE _

Ken opened her left eye first, squinting as hard as she could while she scanned down the UNSF Pilot Enrolment Examination result list posted on the notice board in the Administration Building. She was halfway down the list when her friend, Alice who also took part in the exam screamed,almost close to that of a lunatic.

"YIIIIIIIEEEEEEAARRRHHHH!!!

Ken could feel her own heart skipped a beat when she did that. She ALWAYS do that when she's excited, which means...

"Wha-? What? **WHAT**?" Ken asked, although she'd already guessed what's it about. Especially when they're both looking for their names in the list.

"I passed! I freakin' passed the exam! I'm a fully-qualified UNSF cadet pilot now!" Alice replied, while still in her excitement, jumping up and down like a 10 year old.

_On second thought, maybe a 7 year old. _

"Well, congratulations, now would you please let me concentrate for my name here?"

"Sure," Alice answered her somewhat annoyed friend, smiling to herself turning round and round and round behind Ken.

Ken was starting to sweat, her index finger taking its last stride down the final column of names. And the finger fell of the list, lifelessly. She sighed in disappointment, her shoulders slumped as she turned to face Alice.

"I got booyakha'ed. Again."

Upon hearing the news, Alice paused for a while in silence. Ken was obviously not pleased to failed the test. Twice. Alice could feel her disappointment seaping through her.

"What? That's impossible, we'd been reading the same books, taking the same training from the same Mr. Butthead. Hell, we even had an overnight revision, there's no way you could fail it this time."

"That's what I've been thinking. I'm positive that I did well this time, I have all the facts locked into my brain cells. "

"Well, why not go ask the exam supervisor? I'm sure he knows how well we scored. Or how bad."

"Good idea. I'm going right away!"

Ken spun away from the notice board, opted to go straight to the administration office. Alice pulled her by her arm.

"Wait a minute, you aren't going WITHOUT me, your best friend, are you?" Alice said, giving her a cheeky wink.

"Of course not, you're going to follow me everytime I leave you behind; I don't need to think about going with or wthout you," Ken replied, doubling Alice's cheekiness.

"Oh you're a big meanie!"

"Ha And that's me!" Ken laughed, and started to break into a run. "Chase me!"

"Heeey! Wait up!"

Alice ran after the orange-coloured hair girl down the corridor, and tried to catch up to her.


	5. Zone01: DENIED ACT04 Leo Stenbuck

ACT04:- Leo Stenbuck 

The corridor was darker than those on the other side of the building, most probably because there's little to nobody who use this part of R&D department. This is where some of the most top secret projects were first developed before they're announced to the public and mass media months later. The air too, was cool and contributed to the feeling of loneliness- and somewhat spooky.

_What are they up to this time, I wonder?_

Adjusting the white bandana tied around his forehead, he sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. Leo knew he'd be in serious trouble if he got caught sneeking around in the off-limit area. He'd manage to fish out one of the researcher's ID card from his pocket when he wasn't looking. Carefully taking his steps around the complex, he stayed in the shadows and peek around a corner before making his next move. And found a surveillance camera guarding the entrance to the lab, which should be deserted by now. Everyone is safe and sound in their own quarters. Or outside looking at their results. Or having intense trainings out in the fields. The R&D people are different from the rest. They sleep during the day and work in the wee hours of the night.

_Now I just have to wait for the camera to move-_

Getting familiar to the camera's duration to make a 180 degreed turn, Leo waited until the camera's field of vision is not focusing on the corner which he had his back on. He then made a quick and silent low dash towards the camera, and stay below it till it reversed its movement- away from the lab's door and back to the view of the corner.

_Perfect!_

The cold metal doors slided open with a light humming sound of electricity as he slide the stolen ID card through the card reader. The air was much warmer in the lab, with much heat being dissipated from the enormous machineries where a small scent of warm microchips lingered. Not exactly a pleasant feeling, and the place looks more like a oversized garage. Diodes of various colours blinking accompanied by the beepings from the supercomputers filled a third of the lab, with gigantic cables and wires ran across the walls and the ground.

Leo took a step into the shadow surrounding the room, and as the doors slided close behind him, he could make out the outline of the two humanoid machines in the back of the lab, suspended in the air by their arms, the cockpits placed on the elevated walkway accessible via the metal ladder located in the middle of the construct.

His footsteps echoed through the vast space as he brought himself closer towards the Orbital Frames. Both Frames were arranged to stood face-to-face, the feeling of extreme power and security enveloped the two Martian war machines. However, the Anubis frame alone was still shrouded in the aura of destruction and insanity; Leo's experiences in the past since 2172 earned him that.

His gaze traced along the brown-coloured body of the replica frame that was made by Bahram as a decoy. And he WAS the one who got tricked by that fake frame. He should have noticed that it actually lacked the three pairs of wings; but his rage and naiveness that time almost costed him his life.

He shivered at that thought, it was indeed a close call. He's probably lucky that Nohman wasn't aiming for his death.

Putting the rest of his past aside, Leo climbed up the ladder to the elevated walkway and headed towards the other Orbital Frame, which he had spent some of his time with when Bahram forces first invaded the Antillia Colony orbiting around Jupiter. Jehuty, the other twin frame of Anubis.

"ADA..."

He uttered the name, or more precisely, the codename of Jehuty's onboard battle A.I. Although 'she' goes strict by the rules, being a computer and all that, she had proven to provide companionship and guidance to him, who'd no experiences in manning any other machines larger than a lawnmower at that period of time. And she was programmed to activate the self-destruct sequence in the core of Aumann with Jehuty as a final strike against the rising power of Bahram. Jehuty's, as well as Anubis' self-destructive power was as strong as that of several atomic bombs put together. This power was one of the many features contained in the substance found on both Jupiter and Mars- Metatron. Aumann was made to be a hundred fold of that strength; it's destruction costed Mars one of their satellites, Phobos.

As Leo placed his left palm on the cockpit cover, the cold metatron warmed up and green light ran through its vein-like lines between its armour pieces in pulsation. It looked as if the Orbital Frame has a life of its own. The center on the top of the 'windshield' began to shatter, revealing the runner seat as it continue to open in its radial formation. Without further hesitation, he hopped into the cockpit and the 'windshield' closed behind him, forming the screen which provides various information as well as the vision outside the cockpit as clear as if there's no cover at all. The console is dimmed, the surrounding of the cockpit itself was dark, lit only by the regular pulse of green lines.

"Good morning, ADA."

The console blinks, and slowly regained its bright greenish glow that filled the whole cockpit.

**Cancelling Idle Mode.   
It is about three minutes to fifteen hundred hours now. 'Good evening' would be much more appropriate.   
You are not cleared to enter this lab. Why are you here?**

"Well, I kinda missed you, so, I thought I might just come and have a visit. It's been a long time."

**That is an irrational behaviour which I do not comprehend, but I supposed that is inevitable, given that you've been behaving such a way during the Antillia raid.**

"Ha ha... You really will never change a bit over time will you, ADA?" Leo smiled.

**I do not comprehend the dialogue or question.**

"Nevermind. Anyway, I do have a question for you."

**Do ask.**

"Why was the order given to retrieve both Jehuty and the replica Anubis back to this lab? What was the purpose, knowing that Aumann was already destroyed?"

**Checking files, please wait...**

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Excerpts from the UNSF R&D Sector-7 logbook: 2174.4.21 Professor Morris .   
The two orbital frames were safely retrieved by our men, thanks to your helpful LEVs. Although they suffered from the impact of explosion that completely irradicated Phobos, their main structure remained intact, eventhough they lose some of the surface metatron armours due to debris. They will be sent back to base as soon as the repairs are done.

Excerpts from the UNSF R&D Sector-7 logbook: 2174.4.23 Professor Morris .   
The Jehuty frame is incredible! I've never seen anything like it. It's been two days now and it already look as if it was brand new! The thing is, no repairs were needed! It regenerates it's missing limbs like a lizard- This gotta be another one of those unique feature that these mysterious substance 'Metatron' holds.I'm not entirely sure how it works, but if I could study it, this could be a remarkable discovery for us UNSF.

Excerpts from the UNSF R&D Sector-7 logbook: 2174.8.04 Professor Morris .   
After months of studies on the Metatron, I believe I had finally came up with some satisfying results. I'll send you the reports after I'd run some tests on them.

Excerpts from the UNSF R&D Sector-7 logbook: 2174.9.15 Professor Morris .   
With the successful results and your approval, I'm now ready to begin the "Children of Anubis" project scheduled earlier. The objectives, requirements and probably some early results will be handed over to you in a few weeks time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

**These are the logs I'd gathered that mentioned the purpose of Jehuty and the replica being here. The rest are kept in Security Level-1, which is inaccessable by anyone other than the President, the Secretary of Defense and the General in Command.**

"Children Of Anubis?" The name of the project brought up the uneasiness in him. "Is there any other additional information regarding this project?"

**There are a few, but I have no permission to access the files.**

"Ah... I see..." Leo sighed in disappointment.

**There are a few unwritten information though, which could well be not classified as Security Level-1. Perhaps this could help a bit.**

**checking files, please wait.   
Loading audio data file 08-15-74.rec**

**0**

**27**

**80**

**100**

**   
Playing audio data file.**   
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"My COA will surpass these two OFs thousand of times. I'll merge the traits found in both these Anubis and Jehuty frames into one."

"Well, do your best, or else I'll cut your funding, understand?"

"Y-Yes sir."

"Can you tell me what these COA can do, or at least what they're expected to do?"

"Well, they're like a combination of both these Anubis and Jehuty frames, so they'll be able to maximize the potential of Vector Trap weaponries, possibly a built-in Urenbeck Catapult, regenerative capabilities, so on so forth. And once I've all these technologies studied, we might as well built them with our own material and supplies from earth, which would not be as expensive as imported Metatron. Then they would see mass production."

"Good. That's what I wanted to hear. Those ugly Martians wanted independence, now I'll give them MY definition of indepedence!"

**Audio data file end.**

"Mass production!? That's insane!!"

**Given the odds of human behaviour, I believe that it was inevitable. History had shown that mankind had sought after absolute power ever since they start to exist.**

"But this is just not right! I have to tell Celvice. And Elena, too."

**I strongly recommend that you do not. Humans had shown that under certain circumstances, they might kill to keep something important a secret. It'll be much safer for both of them if they do not know this.**

"They will kill more people if I don't! What should I do? I've got to stop them somehow."

**I'm unable to generate an answer to that question due to the lack of data needed to compute certain results.   
I detect motion reactions inside the lab. I suggest that you get out of this area, given the situation that are not in your favour. There's a backdoor located behind this frame.**

"Thanks, ADA. I'll be back for you next time."

**I do not comprehend the objective for that action, and I strongly recommend that you should not come back. Be careful.**

Leo climbed out of the comfortable seat of Jehuty's cockpit, and headed towards the exit ADA had mentioned earlier in a haste, as voices began to emanate from behind the metal doors where he first entered the lab. As he leave the complex, questions after questions started to swarm into his mind.

_Mass-production OFs? What the hell? Is Earth planning to wage a war with Mars?_

He didn't like the sound of it.

_I've to ask Elena. Maybe she knew something about this._


	6. Zone02: UNDERSHADOW ACT01 Ken Marinaris

**_ZONE02: UNDERSHADOW_**

ACT01:- Ken Marinaris

_Allen Moore, 89, passed. Alice Capri, 63, passed. Richard Geiss, 77, passed. Dolphie Svenson 85, passed...Good._

A faint smile was etched on the face of the blue-tied officer, who was runnning through the UPE Examination papers marked eariler by one of his colleagues. The results are pretty good for this year's admission. The best proof that he's done his own job right. And his students obviously didn't disappoint him either. He closed the emerald coloured file, and while pushing it aside, he opened the dark-red piece beside it. There's only 4 admission papers in the file. Out of the total 300.

_Ahh...the reddies._

"Hey Johnson! How's it going with the papers?"

Blue-tied Johnson looked up from the small pile of paper, his gaze fixed on the guy in red-shirt who'd just enter the office with two cups of Arabica Coffee. The aroma filled the room almost instantly, and for a moment Johnson was at lost for words. Then the senses on his fingers worked as usual.

"Good, very good. These guys are so much better than those of the previous years."

"And how 'bout those?"

Red shirt asked, while handling Johnson his cup.

"Thanks. These are, of course, those who needs more workouts."

Johnson flipped the file open again, and ran through the marks.

"Albert Morley, 45, Shawn Perci, 32, Debbie Dyaz, and-"

Johnson stopped, his blue eyes following his index finger which is tracing the line of the person's name whose marks is not what he'd expect in the 'red-file of failures'.

"And what, Johnson?"

"Hey Charles, I think you misplaced this one."

Johnson replied, waving the file with his left hand while sipping his cup of coffee wih his right.

"Did I?"

Puzzled, Charles took the red file and read the last person on the list of failures.

"Ken Marinaris, 99. Oh, her."

"What do you mean, 'Oh, her'? That's outstanding!"

"I know, but I don't think I'll give her a pass."

"Why is that? You can't just fail somebody with such impressive results."

"Yeah, but she's a martian. And also an **XB runner** (_XB Runner eX-Bahram runner_). I'm not saying that I'm being a racist here, but her past in Bahram makes her, you know, not trustworthy, being one of that Nohman guy's troops."

"I see. Well, too bad, and so much for the results. Hope she'll get the idea that she's not fit to be in the UNSF and stop taking this test."

Charles was half nodding when there was a hard, loud bang on the door, followed by the sound of footsteps of someone running away from the door.

"Who the hell?"

Charles went towards the door to check out who the culprit was, and when he opened it, standing in front was an angry-looking Alice, and an orange-haired girl was already halfway down the corridor.

"Hey, you!"

He opted to get out of the office to go after her, but Alice placed her hands on his chest, stopping him in his tracks. Her gazed was sharp on him, her eyes fixed on him, not blinking.

"You're one big shame for us Earthlings for using your authoritive power to judge someone like that."

His eyes narrowed, obviously not pleased to be critiqued by the rookie.

"What's that you're saying?"

"I'm saying that you're quite the jerk. You can't fail someone with such potentials just because of her past."

"Listen- I'm the one who was asked by the HR Department to get those who are fit to be in the UNSF. In other words, they only care for the ones who I think fit enough. I'm in charge and I'm the one to decide whether or not to put a 'Pass' or a friggin' 'FAIL', on your sheet of paper!"

_How could anyone on earth let this sonnuvabitch be in the exam department? With such attitude AND his work ethics, he can't even fit for the position of a janitor._

Alice was already on the verge of 'losing it'. His arrogance had spilt out of control when he's ticked off, yet there were no signs of remorse or guilt or whatsoever that signify the values of virtue in him. Probably the best reason for Alice to thread over the thin red line between rationality and irrationality.

"Oh? Is that so?"

Without a warning, Alice snatched the half-filled cup from his hands, and splashed its content to his face. The warm liquid stained his red shirt immediately, and wet his nicely done hair. As the excess of the drink trickled down his face to his chin, he opened his eyes to see Alice still standing there, wearing a smile of sarcasm on her face.

"Why don't you fail me for this too, you bastard! I'm a friend of that Martian!"

She said, and flung the cup to the ground, the sound of plastic touching the cold marble tiles beneath their feet loud contrasting the dead silence between them. Before he could react, she turned her back on him and start chasing after the now out of sight girl.


	7. Zone02: UNDERSHADOW ACT02 Elena Weinberg

ACT02:- Elena Weinberg, Co-Captain 

After going through one hell of a day in frustration and legal papers, for Elena there's nothing better than retreating to her room in Block-C. She'd a stack of documents to check, all binded together and held under her now almost numb armpit. Sighing silently to herself, she reached into her white pants' pocket for her key card, at the same time trying to keep the weight of the heavy stack balanced.

_The first thing I'll ever need when I get in there, would be a nice hot bath. _

The green LED flashed almost instantly after she swiped the key card down the reader, and a faint click was heard, amidst the loud series of quick stomping footsteps coming her way. She turned the door knob and at the same time her head to the direction of the oncoming person, and as she pushed the door inwards, she realised that it was a sobbing Ken.

"Ken? Ken, what happened?"

The martian girl seemed to ignore her question, her pace not slowing down even by a bit. Trying to get a hold on what's happened to the XB runner, Elena instinctively placed her palm on Ken's forearm, giving her a firm but soft grip as a body language of 'wait a minute'. Her action, however, was not well received by the rage-ridden girl.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!"

Ken bellowed without even facing her as she swinged her shoulder hard in attempt to shake Elena's hand off. The notebooks Ken was carrying fell off her grasp, scattering on the cold tiles below their feet. Elena was shocked at her reactions, but her grip on her arm now tightened to avoid her from leaving without a confrontation.

"Ken-," Elena repeated her question, this time in a calm and soft voice, "-What happened?"

And it worked. Ken spurled, her hair flowing as she faced the co-captain. Elena could tell that she'd cried, but could not thought of what could've happened that would make her did so.

"Why'd YOU care!? Telling you what happened won't change anything, my pleas will eventually fall on deaf ears!"

_This is a BIG thing..._

"You earth people are all the same," she continued, disappointment showing itself in her tone. Elena could feel that she'd weakened, her emotions catching up onto her. Soon enough tears began to flow down her reddened cheeks.

"Try me," Elena replied, her eyes making contact with Ken's. Her gaze were deep and full of responsibility; that of a leader who would not lie to her troops. It was her aspiring leadership qualities that reassured Ken to submit.

"Come on in, we'll talk this over."

Feeling quite ashamed for her rash behaviour, Ken nodded slightly and lowered her head, breaking the established eye contact. That was when Alice, who'd been running after Ken arrived at the scene, with a seriously concerned look on her face. She was about to call over to her when Elena raised one of her hand silently, and giving her the universal 'O.K' sign.

_Wow...That was quick._

It doesn't take long for Alice to get the message, and they'd both decided to let the senior do the job. Afterall, Ken had always been the one to ease her down when she was in the blues.

"Please, have a seat while I go get you a cup of tea."

Ken accepted the invitation silently as Elena closed the door behind them after picking up the fallen notebooks. While Elena was busy preparing their beverages, Ken took a moment to survey the room. It wasn't spacious, yet it wasn't a small room either. The light was set to 'night mode', the bulb emanated a soft, orangish glow that's comfortable to the eye. Looking further to the corners, Ken spotted a stack of files and folders lying in a mess on a desk, where a bright table lamp sat. Bringing her focus back to herself, she noticed that the senior officer had a cute and shiny crystal ornament on the roundtable in front of her that took the shape of a mouse.

_Ha...'Kawaii'._

"Here you go."

Ken diveretd her attention towards Elena as she carefully lay the two cups on the table and sat on the couch next to hers.

"So now... mind telling me what's troubling you?"


	8. Zone02: UNDERSHADOW ACT03 Dingo Egret

ACT03:- Dingo Egret, Ken Marinaris & Leo Stenbuck 

Winter is coming, and so is the storm. Dingo wasn't please. It seemed that it had been part of his life that whenever he's on the tip of completing a task, there's ought to be something that will ALWAYS jolt him out of the smooth ride of life.

_Bloody hell. Can't you just wait till I'm done with my last 150th hour of my quota!?_

His silent question was replied by the almost inaudible sound of hard ice cracking of the he'd been pounding on with the claws of his mining LEV unit; drowned by the loud howling wind of cold air. Just as he's about to drill deeper, the upper left corner semi-transparent LCD screen was flashing in bright crimson.

**WARNING. Drilling mechanism failure. WARNING-**

_Great timing._

With a touch of a few keys on the control panel, he turned off the auto-mode to move the arms manually. Those suckers in the company should've changed to using the later models, these units are so obsolete, they could've possibly be traded away for a some scooter. With a swift maestro-like swing of his left hand, Dingo easily maneuvered the LEV's left arm to move towards the camera unit that was located on the blank 'face' part of the gigantic mech. The drill doesn't seemed to look faulty, according to his expert point of view. So instead of calling it a day, he brought the dark Khaki painted LEV closer to the massive wall of ice, and knocked the arm against it repeatedly as if it were knocking on a door. Within seconds the arm was spinning again. A boyish grin was instinctively formed on his face, a sign of satisfaction.

"There. Good as new."

"Yeah right, Mr Mechanic-," Angie's voice bursted through the speaker along with heavy static, "-just remember that the moment they break will be the moment you go broke. Those drills alone cost more than your annual salary."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..."

"Anyhow, we're done for today. There's a heavy storm ahead round the corner, and I don't want to haul your ass up when you freeze all over. Get your LEV back on the ship and we'll be heading back to Antillia till the storm eases down."

"Bla bla bla..," Dingo replied casually, and turn the LEV away from the ice before heading back toward the ship along with Rick and his other fellow colleagues.

"What's with the dull look, Dingo?"

**You may crash, beware!**

"Shut up!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Angie sounded a tad bit annoyed by Dingo's rude response.

With a rude bang on the console, the warning message died out, and he maneuvered the heavy machine under the ship, matching its speed before increasing altitude.

"Not you. I'm talking to this giant block here. Okay now Angie, routine stuffs; This is MR1422 Dingo Egret docking, over."

With his confirmation received, the clamps that sticks out from the bottom of the ship clasped onto the LEV's shoulder, and a green light flashed, indicating that he is okay to abort the clumsy jalopy.

"MR1422 Dingo Egret, LEV locked. Welcome back."


	9. Zone02: UNDERSHADOW ACT04 Ken Marinaris ...

ACT04:- Leo Stenbuck 

"I see. Don't worry, I'll bring this matter to the UNSF Council on our next meeting. You can count on me."

Being able to voice her problem, Ken seemed to feel much better now, but Elena can still see traces of stress and burden lying on her shoulders. So she decided to give Ken her advice, as a friend.

"You must be tired to go through the test twice, it's not an easy one to start with; So why don't you take a break, go on a vacation before working your way back into class. Afterall the current cadet training will start tomorrow, and you'll be missing the first few lessons which are quite important while I solve this issue."

_Maybe you're right, I DO need a break._

Ken sighed, dropping her head slightly. Her smile assured Elena that she'd took her advice, and soon she's back the way she was.

"Okay, then," Ken said as she regain her strength to get on both her feet and make her way to the door, "I guess I'll be off for a month till the next batch of newbies arrive." She smiled again, in an almost boyish fashion, and gave the doorknob a twist.

Elena replied the smile, "Good for you. Take care."

"Sure thing."

Leo could not take the puzzling questions out of his mind. The only thing he could do for the moment was to hasten his pace towards Elena's room. There's so much he wanted to ask her about. For a second he thought he heard the sound of door closing, so he decides to jog his way through.

There was nobody in sight by the time he reached the door, and the sun had probably set about two hours ago, so the co-captain should had retreated into her quarters by now.

_I hope she'd some answers to these..._

The door felt cold on his fingers as he bring them to a gentle knock on it. And it wasn't really a long wait before the door opened.

_Aw, dang! My notebooks!_

Ken silent cursed- she'd left them on Elena's roundtable and had completely forgotten about them. Making a hundred-eighty, she tracked back towards the co-cap's room.

She was already at the corner leading to her destination when she heard a short conversation between sombody and the senior officer.

"Elena, I need some answers from you. It's concerning about Jehuty and the other OFs."

Just like herself, Elena had the same puzzled look on her face when Leo mentioned about Jehuty and the other OFs retrieved.

"Sure, come on in."

_Weird. What's there to ask about Jehuty?_

Curiosity got the better of her, so she decide to do a bit of eavesdropping. To avoid being suspicious, she lean on her back against the wall next to the door, bringing her head closer to the door and at the same time brushing her hair aside from her back while she tried to make out what they're both talking about through the thick metal door. Her cheeks briefly made contact with the door.

_Man, this door is as cold as an ice cube!_

It takes a while before her cheeks get use to the temperature of the door, and soon a conversation on the otherside came muffled, but still recognizable.

"So, what is it that you wanted to know?"

"I paid ADA a visit today. And I wanted to know the true purpose of them...the OFs being here."

"You mean you went to the R&D? Do you realize that the area is off-limits to pilots? I can take you in for trespassing, you know?"

"Well, I don't care!" the impatient Leo bursted, "ADA told me that there's a research going on, and from what I'd heard from her is that this Professor Morris is working on a new line of Orbital Frames, possibly to be used against Mars!"

_Now this is new...Morris back in action? That doesn't sound like him at all._

Professor Edward James Morris was one of Earth's most brilliant scientist. He probably still is now. From what shed heard about professor Morris was that he's a child prodigy. A phD in Modern Science at 17, phD in Quantum Physics at 19, phD in this and that which she don't remember. One thing's for sure though- He could be the next Albert Einstein.

The whole world was thrown aback when he came up with the 'Vector Trap' technology shortly after the historical discovery of Metatron on Mars. And with that technology he demonstrated how he could confined 5 exploding H2-Bombs into a tiny sphere measuring only half a centimetre.

While his researches involved the usage of destructive weapons, his objective was nothing other than to make the world a better place to live in. While other researchers aimed to make stronger missiles to defend the country, he was making miracles that prevents the deadly blast of nuclear missiles. He would never make any tools that would cause harm to humanity, even when he was once offered quite a sum of numbers for his bank account; one with lots of zeros at the end.

But no matter how hard he tried, there will always be a hunger for war lurking in the deep corners of humanity. Soon, the scientists in the mysterious Martian force BAHRAM had come up with the Orbital Frames, humanoid-shaped giant robots powered by the metatron's unique attributes- and a modified version of the 'Vector Trap' which allows the OFs to store destructive weapons without having to worry about the armanents slowing them down or storage space.

It was a devastating result from his researchs. Instead of protecting mankind, he realised that he'd just added another adversary to the list of WMD, along with his name into the hall of fame. Disappointed with the outcome of his work, Morris vowed not to touch researchs concerning Metatron ever again.

The fact that he'd contributed to the countless deaths caused by BAHRAM's OFs, including the lives of his parents and his beloved fiance who were on vacation during the 2172 Antillia raid was heart-breaking. It had been 5 years since the world last heard from him, till now.

"And these OFs are the 'offsprings' of both Jehuty AND Anubis, and from what ADA had caught they were meant for mass production!"

Leo's word snapped Elena back to the present. The word 'mass-production' was not a pleasant thing to hear when it comes attached with Orbital Frames. Then all of the facts started to fit together like a jigsaw. Well, at least some part of it; the UNSF's reluctantness to return the OFs, the recently hired top-notch scientists. Her commander's assholiness.

"Something's going on here, Elena. And I have a bad feeling about what's in store for the future, and I need your help."

Elena stood speechless for a moment, analyzing on all the possible ways to answer Leo's call.

"I don't really have much say when it comes to debating class-1 issues with the tops, you know, but I'll try to get as much as I can and avoid getting busted."

Leo was relieved. Finally he had someone on his side.

"Thanks, Elena. I'm glad that you've decided to help."

_Mass-production? Anubis-Jehuty hybrid? That's not a good thing to know. _

Ken could feel the thumping footsteps made by the boots that Leo guy alway wear inching closer, so she decided to takeoff before they find out.

_Does this have to do with the tiresome trainings the pilots are taking recently? To prepare them for the new batch of OFs? There's also news of a newtype battle A.I. being developed for OFs and the LEVs. For the hybrids? _

Tons of questions crammed into her skull in such a short moment, so she decided to shake them all off. She's going to go on a vacation. Plus, Elena is going to the one to deal with it, so there's no point for her to know so much. She'd known enough for today. Now, all she needed to know was what she's gonna be taking along with her when she goes on her break.

_Darn! My notes!_


	10. Interlude Embleme de Rose: Rulers of the...

INTERLUDE:- Embléme de Rose: Rulers of the Night 

"The darkness of the night amidst the stars is calling, summonning;   
Creatures of the night answered with their requiem of death;   
For they are finally released from their shelter- away from the sun.

And as the beast unsheathed its **fangs** under the **pale blue** moon;   
**Yellow poison** started to drip gently downwards toward its tip;   
And with it the painful** bite** that turns blood **purple** followed.

The moment we've been waiting for has finally come, my dear** sisters**;   
The emblem of the** rose** shall rule the skies once again, soaring high;   
Forward! To our destiny, we shall go- And bring forth a revolution!!"


	11. Zone03: THE UNKNOWN ACT01 A Trio Of Hunt...

**_ZONE03: THE UNKNOWN_**

ACT01:- A Trio of Hunters

The space was silent, still, and quiet. Like death. The sun began to show its face from behind the blue planet of life, its blinding rays setting the neighbouring red planet on burning red. It was a marvellous sight.

"Approaching departure point. Teleportation in 2 minutes, get your units prepared, Phoenix-One."

A marvellous sight it WAS. But it does not have a lasting appeal for her. She'd gotten used to it, the stars, the debris- and its getting pretty boring. It's about time to put a spark into this vast arena. With a few pressing of buttons on the console, Phoenix-One set her starfighter to auto-pilot, and then activated the communications panel.

"Falcon-Two, Peacock-Three; You've heard the man. Play time."

"Affirmative, Commander. Preparing for teleportation," Peacock-Three replied, as softly and gentle as she can be.

"Wooohoooo!" Falcon-Two's plane actually rolled when she answered, "That's what I've been WAITING to hear- **PLAY TIME**!"

Looking back at the two pilots really made Phoenix-One's head spin. They're the perfect example for a lesson on 'Contrast'; Peacock-Three is always soft to ANYONE, which includes the enemies she fights. That could get her into big troubles, although that had never happened, which is weird for someone of her nature.

Falcon-Two, on the other hand, sounds like a bloodthirsty murderer who just can't stay still in one spot. It's too bad that her skills weren't as good as Peacock-Three's though. Then again, on the contrary, she'd get all of them in big trouble if she does.

"Units prepared. Anytime now, Hash."

As she closed the com-line, she took point of the three-jets' V-formation, and let the autopilot do the rest until they reached their exit.

**TELEPORTATION MODE2- TIMEPORT 60- DESTINATION 19:30/27.03.2176**

A bright glowing dot, like a twinkling star, appears in front of the three jets, and as the time-travelling process began, multiple strands of light emerged from the dot and spreaded out from its core like cracks on a piece of glass which enveloped them in a web-like fishing net. Then, all they could see on their screens was the twinkling stars stretching to form long, blazing lines. In a flash, they were gone from their airspace.

* * *

** ATTENTION! THE SHUTTLEBUS TO ANTILLIA STATION WILL BE DEPARTING IN 2 MINUTES...**

_ It's about time, alright. I thought you're gonna say that tomorrow._

Ken was bored of the long wait. Maybe she'd gone numb with the Space Force's hustle-bustles. The rest of her mind however, was unable to recall when was the last time she'd waited for a ride on a shuttlebus. As she slumped back to rest on the comfortable seat, she don't even remember the last place she'd visited during her holidays; and THAT was before she joined BAHRAM in 2172.

The lights on the ceiling of the shuttlebus is soft, but somehow Ken felt awkwardly uneasy. Closing her eyes doesn't seemed to help either, so she turned to look out of the window instead, which is pretty boring as well. White sparks on black had almost been a routined pattern in her eyes for the past few years.

_Maybe I should just get some shuteye moments anyway._

Before she could, however, something happened, outside right in the centre of the boring space. It was quite far away, but she was sure that there was a bright flash among the twinkles. And from the flash three pairs of glowing lines, like those of a spacejet's thrusters seen from afar, appeared. The 'lines' seemed to swirl in a circular formation too, but then almost as immediate as its appearance, the 'lines' glowed with intensity, and trailed off into the darkness of the universe, one by one.

"What in the world?" Ken asked herself.

Then she looked around for signs of anyone in the shuttle witnessed the same thing as she did. Nobody seemed to be in the same puzzled state she's in. Everyone was just having their normal shuttlebus time.

_Darn, I must be imagining things._

Making herself to believe what she thought was happening, she finally put herself to the soft and cozy seat before she dozed off into dreamworld.


	12. Zone03: THE UNKNOWN ACT02 Dingo & Ken

ACT02:- Dingo Egret, Ken Marinaris

The crew quarters was just a small, well-lit room with a round table placed in the center, the walls lined with old metal racks containing everyday items from junk food to electrical appliances to porn mags. The mags were leftovers of the second drilling team. Despite the scattered papers, table ornaments and the sound of humming engines which originates from two floors below, the room was actually the second best area to be in, the first was the communication deck. The center of attention of the room was the 19-inch monitor display fixed onto the wall which shows the view outside of the ship. And since they're traveling via the catapult, all Dingo could see from them was an array of fiery lines moving rapidly. Although it was designed to look like a window, it actually looked more like another PC's screensaver on the monitor.

"Coffee, Dingo?" Dingo looked up from his seat to the offering voice of Angie's.

"Nah, no thanks. I've spilt enough today."

"That's because you don't drink any."

Dingo chuckled at that. He'd definitely spoilt the tanned skin girl way too much with his jokes, so he decided to give it up before it gets deeper, and accepted the warm cup of coffee. Angie then took her place on the opposite side.

"So watcha gonna do when we get back home?" Asked the curious Angie as she brushed the bangs of her hair aside to her ears.

"Well...Eat, drink, watch TV, sleep and repeat. Nothing of interest."

"That sound so awfully boring..," Angie commented.

"I have to admit, I am a boring guy," Dingo replied, and as he sighed, he turned to look at the "window" on the wall.

The lines had started to slow down, and pretty soon he could start to make out the outlines of the receiving end of the catapult. A gigantic structure, the catapult was another construction used to exploit the potentials of the Metatron ore, which reminded him of many unpleasant things. Metatron, a mysterious ore which was used as an excellent alternative energy source, was first discovered on Callisto during space colonization in 2067, following the announcement by the United Nations that fossil fuel had dried up. Along with the LEV, this "mineral" was considered as one of the two essential components for the discovery of space.

The Metatron replaced the now extinct fossil fuel and was also a great material to be manipulated for military purposes. With its mysterious properties being researched and put to use over a variety of different ways, an anti-earth organization on Mars had secretly developed gigantic humanoid weapons called "Orbital Frames" using Metatron. Knowing this, the people on Earth felt threatened, seeing the overwhelming power of the Orbital Frames. On the contrary for the Martians, Mars colonists finally have enough power to match that of Earth. They have been inferior until they obtained these Orbital Frames. This ultimately led towards the Deimos Incident in 2167. From what Dingo had gathered, the incident was an act of terrorism committed by an officer belonging to the anti-earth faction of Bahram. The officer captured the Orbital Frame being developed with the utmost secrecy at the time by Bahram, and when it was used to attack UNSF officers, where the waystation on Deimos became tragically involved. The Orbital Frame became a public property, and since this incident the tension between Earth and Mars has increased dramatically. And that was just a part of the dark history concerning Metatron.

The ship went past the receiving tube-like structure of the Urenbeck catapult, built on Jupiter's Moon Europa on L2, marking an end to the space compression journey. Angie felt somewhat refreshed when she saw the Antillia Colony again, with the dirt-clouded planet in the background. Although part of the colony was still under heavy reconstruction; the aftermath of the bloody the Antillia raid in 2172, the floating giant somehow looked pleasantly calm.

"Home at last..."

* * *

The ride wasn't exactly what she would recognize as comfortable, but at least she could get a few naps before waking up to the announcements made before and after the ride through space compression. Looking outside, she could see the colony of Antillia, where her father fought his final battle as a Bahram soldier. Her thought wavered back in time as the shuttle docked itself at the station. Her father, from what she remembered, was once a laborer working in the mines of Jupiter, excavating the huge resources of Metatron and Helium 3; most of them were transported to Nereidum Universal Technology (NUT) on Mars, which was the largest producer of LEVs and also the original developer of Orbital Frames during the late 30's. That was, of course, before the Deimos incident.

_Gosh Why am I even thinking about this right now?_

Shaking her past behind her, Ken grabbed her luggage and headed out of the gigantic silver bird. The cool air of the station hit her right in her face as she walked forward, sending her long hair wavering behind her for a brief moment before she went inside the complex's effective gravitational field. The Antillia Station was huge, and it didn't look as old as it seemed to be on the outside. Bright lights emanated from almost everywhere- ceilings, floors, tables, fountains. Heck, the last time she checked, even the toilet bowl had soft neon on its lid. Ken laughed slightly at the thought of that.

_For Christ's sake..._

Nothing much had changed since she last came, except for a few new cafeterias and an area which is closed to the public, where reconstruction works took place to amend the war-torned sector of the colony. The sight of it alone brought her the dark memories of the war, so she decided that it was a good-- **NO**, a **_BETTER_** idea to hasten her pace towards Residential Area B-3, where Dingo's apartment was. It had been 1 year, 3 months and 14 days since she'd last met Dingo, which was when he saw her off the Antillia Station, departing to Earth in her pursuit of her dream-- to be a UNSF pilot. Ken shrugged. The idea itself now, was pure sarcasm.

_Well, yeah. It's a dream alright._

Without even knowing it, she'd somehow made her way to the steps of the Valencia Heights while being busy with her thoughts. The name of the building sounds like it came from some sort of luxury cruise or something, but to her it's more like a sick joke of contrasting ideas; the building was just as bad as the back alleys in town. Rusty metals, leaking pipes, moss-covered walls, weird smells of unknown origin-- you name it, they have em' all. It's just a wonder that this place hadn't been quarantined by the CHO (Colony's Health Organization) yet.

_Better be at home, Dingo..._

Taking her final deep breath of the fresh air outside the building, Ken found the courage within her to endure the worst place she'd ever been to in her entire life. She took a step forward. And another. And another. And she counted every single step she'd take. Eventually by the time she'd reach the door to Dingo's apartment, she'd counted 327. There would probably be another 100 if she'd not used the elevator, which will undoubtfully includes at least 10 minutes of nose-pinching to survive the stench. Before she attempted to push the door bell, she'd the overall surroundings surveyed. Much to her surprise, Dingo seemed to have his doorway cleaned up, unlike most of the other tenants in the block. Shiny clean floor tiles, a doormat, and a nicely painted wall.

_Here we go..._

Ken lifted and thrusted her finger on to the red button next to the door, pushing it for about three times before pausing to wait for responses. There was none, so she decided to give it another try again, hoping that she'd get a sleeping Dingo to wake up. And the buzzer sounded for a few seconds before she finally gave up. Dingo's not at home, and she's getting kind of sleepy, thanks to the lack of REM sleeps during the flight.

_Darn it Dingo. You ought to be back by now... _

She's certain that Dingo should have returned from Callisto by now, the storm was said to last for a few more days. There's nothing Dingo can dig in that harsh weather anyway. She sighed under the light that illuminated the door to Dingo's quarters, and leaned on her back against the door, slowly sliding down to sit on the cold tiles. Embracing her legs close to her, she brought her forehead to her knees and silently prayed that her visit would not be in vain. The tiles might be cold, but not as cold as the feeling of being alone.

_Dingo..._

* * *

Outside the Valencia Heights, the white haired miner gazed at his apartment building which he'd not return to for the last five months. He'd been busy mining at the mines in Jupiter's moon Callisto, and had been living in the crew quarters with his fellow friends. And all the while he'd been trying to drown his mind in his work, an attempt to erase memories of the battles he's previously involved in. Of course, he failed doing so, and there's always the scar on his chest to remind him of the past. The chain of events was horrible enough, and knowing how much it hurts when a bullet perforated your body and your lungs made it even worst. At least he can forget about all of that when he's working.

_Well, I'm back. Home sweet home. _

Taking a final deep breath of fresh air of relief, he adjusted the weight of his backpack and entered the building.

_Man, this place STILL stinks! _


End file.
